Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century

Review

To start, I acknowledge that I read this book at the wrong time — it arrived at the library shortly after I stopped reading Exhalation because I wasn't in the mood for short stories, and although I decided to power through Lesser Known Monsters it inevitably just wasn't what I wanted to be reading.

Disclaimer aside, this collection was very hit-or-miss for me. My favourites were:

• 'Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867', a transcript of a conversation between a participant and a simulation operator that illuminated the fuzzy moral ground of new technologies;
• 'Do You Remember Candy', in which everyone on Earth loses their sense of taste at once, that reminded me not to take the world I have for granted; and
• 'June Bugs', about a woman who, in fleeing her abusive partner, ends up in a house infested with bugs, which provided such a visceral metaphor for what we're willing to tolerate